One week after the attack at the Washington Navy Yard, the labor union that represents security forces at the installation and the U.S. Navy have widely differing views on whether the yard was fully staffed by the required number of security forces.

Both sides agree on one thing, though - that the staffing situation would not have prevented Aaron Alexis from entering the facility because he had a legal badge to get through the gate.FULL POST

U.S. forces in the Middle East tasked with carrying out military action against Syria were ready to go this past weekend and were caught off guard by President Barack Obama's decision to first seek congressional approval.

Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean equipped with cruise missiles had ramped up operations from the previous week, thinking they would be ordered to launch a strike as early as Saturday.

"I thought that was the night," a Defense Department official told CNN.

"We were standing multiple watches. Everyone was pretty sure it was going to happen," the official added.

He said the sudden change in direction from the White House late on Friday was surprising.

The U.S. military could execute a strike against Syria very quickly, if it's ordered to, according to Pentagon sources.

President Barack Obama is still debating a limited strike after Syrian regime forces allegedly unleashed a brutal chemical attack against civilians and rebel forces earlier this month, killing at least 1,429 people, according to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Before any missiles start flying, the president would issue an "execute" order for operations to begin.FULL POST

Casey James Fury simply didn't want to be at work, and in the process cost the Navy nearly a half-billion dollars and one attack submarine.

Fury admitted to setting fire to the USS Miami, a nuclear sub, in May 2012 while it was in dry dock. He was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison in March and ordered to pay $400 million in restitution - roughly the cost of the damage.

The Navy won't see anything close to that amount from Fury, of course, but neither will it from Uncle Sam.

On Tuesday, the Navy announced that despite the demand for attack submarines being "as strong as ever," the Miami is being inactivated. The reason: Under sequestration, the federal government's forced budget cuts, the Navy simply can't afford to make the repairs.

After over 50 years of reported service, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday that Cap’n Crunch, one of the Navy’s most recognizable captains, has no record of service with the military branch.

A number of blogs noticed this week that the jolly, cereal selling caricature who has graced the front of Cap’n Crunch boxes since 1963 was actually wearing a commander’s uniform, the rank below a captain. The U.S. Navy uses bars on a uniform’s cuff to signify the rank of the person wearing the uniform. Cap’n Crunch’s uniform has only three bars – the sign of a commander – not four bars – the sign of a captain.

Blogs like Gawker and Consumerist recognized the missing bar and labeled Cap’n Crunch a liar.

“In other words, the Cap'n is nothing but a lousy Commander,” Neetzan Zimmerman of Gawker wrote. “Our entire cereal-eating lives could be based on a lie because of one little yellow stripe,” wrote Mary Beth Quirk of Consumerist.

Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Michael Miller has ordered an Article 32 proceeding in which evidence is presented during a hearing to a military legal officer, who decides whether to proceed with a court-martial, the official said.

The official, who declined to be named, would not say if all three athletes could face charges.

The case comes with concern mounting about sex abuse reports in the armed forces.

Investigators have completed their probe of allegations that three U.S. Naval Academy football players were involved in an alleged sex assault of a female midshipmen almost a year ago, according to a Navy spokesman.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.